A delegation from the Steering Committee for the Northwest Regionrecently met with authorities from northern mountainous Lai Chau and SonLa provinces to discuss the outcomes of the two’s respectiveresettlement programmes.

In recent years, over20,000 households in Dien Bien, Son La and Lai Chau have needed to berelocated to make way for the construction of the 2,400-megawatt Son LaHydropower Plant, the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia.

The plant, situated in It Ong commune, Muong La district, Son La,officially commenced operations on December 23, 2012 after seven yearsof construction. It supplies an average 10.2 billion kilowatt hours eachyear to the national grid.

To make room forSon La, Huoi Quang and Ban Chat hydropower plants, a total of 44,647people in Lai Chau have to migrate to 34 new areas established toaccommodate them. Provincial authorities have so far implemented theresettlement project on schedule, with locals receiving compensation,basic infrastructure and small business set ups in relocated areas,among other amenities.

According to Trang ThiXuan, Vice Chairwoman of the Son La People’s Committee, the province hassafely moved 12,584 households from flooded areas near the Son La plantand handed over 99.9 percent of land allocated for those resettlingfamilies. The transitioned households have access to clean water andconnections to the national grid.

In resettledareas, Son La has invested more than 6.4 trillion VND (298 million USD)to put 2,022 infrastructure projects into operation and spent over 47billion VND (2.19 million USD) to create local livelihoods.

Nguyen Canh Viet, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee, spoke highlyof the two provinces’ relocation efforts and noted that they shouldcontinue to increase the living standards of the newly formedcommunities.-VNA